 Should you build your own website or hire a web pro? We're talking about it here on The Journey. So being a business owner, having something online, your website, that's very important. It allows you to market your business, make sure that people can find you, and it adds an extra layer of credibility. However, if you are a business owner, you may not know how to actually build your own website. Right, unless you're a web designer yourself, but we've got some tips and tricks to better understand whether you should go at it yourself or hire a web pro today. So let's jump into those tips here. So you can actually code your website yourself. If you want control of the layout and how things are going to look, knowing HTML and CSS is a good way to go. Yeah, but if you're already running a business, this can get kind of complicated. Having your HTML and CSS, yes, it does give you full control of the website. It's a little bit more difficult. There are WYSIWYG editors out there like Dream Reaver, which make it a little bit easier to design your site versus doing it from scratch. What's WYSIWYG? What you see is what you get. And that's pretty common with a lot of the site builders out there. You basically see it and it'll basically do all the coding and really cool stuff on the back end so you don't have to. Now, learning how to code is a little too strenuous and a big time investment. You can go a different route and actually get a site builder like GoDaddy's website's plus marketing. There's template designs, drag and drop. It makes this super easy for you. Yeah, I think the biggest part there is the templates. I know some of us aren't design oriented. We can barely draw a stick figure if you're like me. But with these templates, it gives you a great starting point and a great layout to go from and then you just kind of plug and play from there. Now, when you're using a site builder and those templates, whether it's websites plus marketing or Squarespace or Weebly or Wix, things like that, don't get caught up on the actual content on the page. Just look at what do you like and what fits with your brand because all the images, all the content, the text, all this stuff could be manipulated to be your brand versus the template that they gave you. An added benefit of getting a site builder is everything is included. You have the ability of having the technical support. If anything goes awry, you can reach out to the company but you can also have the hosting. You don't have to worry about trying to host it yourself as well. And typically this costs about $30 per month. Yeah, I think the biggest thing there is the hosting aspect. When you get a website builder, that hosting is included. You can think of hosting as your house. It's where you live. It's where your website lives. And you don't have to get anything extra. It's all in one. It usually has that security in there too with that SSL because that's super important these days. At the end of the day, website builders are the easiest way for an everyday small business owner to get a website online without being an expert. Now another option is if you do want to actually get your hands in there and have a little more control over the look and the layout, you still don't want to be able to tap the code. WordPress and Joomla can give you a lot more functionality and options to choose from. Yeah, and if you've been following along with any of the other episodes, you know that I am an avid WordPress user. I mean, check out this video right here if you want to learn more about WordPress. But it isn't a great option for those needing some advanced functionalities or features on their website. But again, they don't have the time to be an expert. There is more of a learning curve when it comes to WordPress just because there are things like plugins and themes. And with WordPress, it's an open source platform meaning anyone and everyone can contribute to it and make it awesome. But when you add a new plugin, you have to learn that plugin. And you have another plugin, you have to learn that plugin. There is that learning curve there, but if you're in it for the long haul on those features, there are tons of resources out there to make your website awesome. Now, Nelly, what about the hosting and the security? Yeah, so unlike site builders, it's not included in one. WordPress is essentially a software. So you have to purchase hosting and typically have to purchase the SSL too unless it's bundled in with the hosting. Things like cPanel or Manage WordPress will have things to automatically install it for you to make your life super easy, but it's gonna be a little bit extra to get everything going. Now, if you don't wanna do any of this, hiring a web designer or company to host it for you and build it for you could be the way to go. Most freelancers will charge anywhere from five to 1500 for a website. Yeah, and those are averages. I mean, if you get some super awesome freelancers, they may charge even more. I mean, I know myself, I charge the plugin a little bit more for higher quality websites, but then there's also the option of hiring an agency. Agencies have their benefits like they're not going anywhere. The freelancer, it's just them. So if anything happens, you're only relying on them with an agency have that company foundation to back you. So those prices are going to be a bit higher just cause they have more overhead to run their company. So they typically place it on the client, but for good reason, the quality is usually a little bit higher. So you can expect basically those prices to start at 2,500 up to maybe 5,000, but it can go even higher if you need more than a website, like website presence and branding and social and all these different things as they can take care of you. So with either option, you will still have that monthly hosting costs and other menial fees. But the good thing is it takes this off of your plate. It gives you more time back into your schedule and you won't have to worry about it all. Yeah, I think it comes down to what point of your business are you in? Do you value your time more or do you value your money more? So you value your time more. I mean, you really wanna think about how much would you pay yourself per hour and then equate that to how long it's gonna take you to actually do your website and what task that's taking away that you can be running on to design your site versus if money is an issue, doing yourself is the more frugal option to get something up and going. But you need a website whichever route you end up taking. Your website again, adds that credibility, adds professionalism that your customers and your clients expect to see. So whichever route you go, you need one. All right, so we hope this has helped you to figure out whether you wanna build your own website or hire a pro to do it. Be sure to like this video and comment below on how you built your website. Yeah, and if you found this video helpful, subscribe to this channel and ring that bell to get these episodes first. This is The Journey. See you next time.